Auto-tagging is used to collect data from which kinds of traffic?
Website referral traffic
Social media traffic
AdWords Campaign traffic
Search engine traffic other than Google
Explanation:
Auto-tagging is the recommended approach and ensures that you get the most detailed AdWords data.
Read more here: https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/1033981
In order for Analytics to display details about your AdWords keywords and costs, you must do one of the following:
- Enable auto-tagging. This is the recommended approach and ensures that you get the most detailed AdWords data.
- Manually tag all your keyword final URLs with tracking variables. You should only do this in the special cases outlined below.
We strongly recommend that you use auto-tagging.
How auto-tagging works
Auto-tagging automatically imports AdWords data into Analytics. Combining AdWords data with the rich post-click information provided by Analytics allows you to see what happened on your site after people clicked on your ads.
When you enable auto-tagging, a parameter called gclid is added to your landing page URL when a user clicks over to your site from an ad. For example, if your site is www.mysite.com, when a user clicks on your ad it appears in the address bar as:
www.mysite.com/?gclid=123xyz
Enable auto-tagging
To enable/disable auto-tagging:
- Sign in to your AdWords account.
- Click the gear icon, and select Account settings.
- Make sure you’re on the Preferences tab, and click Edit in the Tracking section.
- Select (enable) or clear (disable) the Auto-tagging checkbox.
- Click Save changes.
Special cases
Your website doesn’t allow arbitrary URL parameters
A small percentage of websites do not allow arbitrary URL parameters and serve an error page when auto-tagging is turned on. Consult with your webmaster to find out if this is the case, or turn on auto-tagging and do a test by clicking a live version of your ad (for example, do a Google search that displays your ad and click that). If the link to your site works, then you can use auto-tagging. If you get an error, you need to turn auto-tagging off from your AdWords account. Then, ask your webmaster to allow arbitrary URL parameters before turning it back on.
If allowing URL parameters is not a workable solution, you can tag your links manually. However, manual tagging can be time consuming and will only allow you to see a subset of AdWords data.
Use caution when manually tagging your links:
- Tag your actual final URLs with parameters. If you try to use a redirect from a final URL to another URL + parameters, your AdWords data won’t be transmitted to Analytics.
- Remember to disable auto-tagging. If you unintentionally mix manual and auto-tagging, you’re likely to encounter data discrepancies.
